Today I attended the memorial for a friend’s baby, Regan Ka’uloa Aust (whose middle name is Hawaiian for ‘mine forever.’) Regan had Trisomy-13 – a chromosomal disorder that ‘is not consistent with life.’ The service was beautiful, celebrating the 45 minutes the Austs had with their son before he died. Apparently only 400 babies a year who suffer from this condition are even born alive. Which makes it amazing that two such babies have been born in our congregation with this condition in the past few years.

It’s been over 12 years since Arthur died, and I no longer cry when I pass through the veil in the temple. But events like tonight’s memorial can still bring the tears to my eyes. Both JD Evans and Ken Snyder commented about my crying (they each gave remarks during the service). It wasn’t so much that I was ‘reliving’ what happened to Arthur, but perhaps that having experienced Arthur’s death I was more easily moved to tears as I considered the journey the Austs have gone through.

Are going through.

Vale —